Staying in consistent touch with your customers can be a great way to keep your business top-of-mind when they need your services.

Business Week’s article Marketing with a Personal Touch suggests personalized greeting cards as one way to do this.

Sending personalized cards to clients is a great strategy. And online services let you create them with a few clicks… The advent of online greeting card services has presented an opportunity for small businesses to go that extra mile with their own customers. Many outfits use them as an affordable and convenient marketing tool to send thanks, news, and invitations.

Online card services, they say:

• Create a very professional result
• Make it much easier than manually sending the cards out
• Allow you to personalize the card (e.g. adding your own photo)

And for certain types of businesses, they can be an effective lead generation tool:

“I don’t advertise,” says Deery. “My work is word of mouth, and the cards definitely lead to referrals. If something comes up I’m at the front of their minds.”

The online service they discussed that I was particularly intersted in was Cardstore. Their pricing seems pretty reasonable—from $3 to $0.70 per card (plus postage), depending on quantity.

One very cool thing they offer is gift cards to include with your custom card, from Lowe’s and Home Depot to Chili’s and Bass Pro Shops.